Rod

Nettlesd

Registered User
Hey Guys,

Just seeing if someone might be able to help. So, I have this bent rod and it needs a little love. At our annual STL/IL Christmas party, I picked a nice butane torch (thanks Tony Serno) and I figured I could heat the rod up and bend it back straight. I plan to clamp it in a vise and use a very long piece of iron rod in the small end of the rod to bend it back in shape.

So, is there one certain place on the rod that I should be heating up so that I can get the rod as straight as possible? Once straight, I figured I would file down any rough places and slap it into the engine and call it good. The extra heat treating should make the rod stronger than what I currently have in the engine.

So, any advice?

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What works for me is to soak it in warm salt water for at least an hour - as all connecting rods are made from memory metal, it will return to it's original shape on it's own, you just need to be patient. Be sure to remove the bearing shells first, as they are likely to swell, and unless you know the clearances have opened up, that's not something you want to entertain.

Dilly, dilly.
 
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What works for me is to soak it in warm salt water for at least an hour - as all connecting rods are made from memory metal, it will return to it's original shape on it's own, you just need to be patient. Be sure to remove the bearing shells first, as they are likely to swell, and unless you know the clearances have opened up, that's not something you want to entertain.

Dilly, dilly.

add a splash of ginko biloba to help that memory metal do its job.

don't leave it in there too long, or it'll swell up into a dinosaur.
 
heat

Make sure you have a continuous flow of cutting oil on it while heating, so it stays lubricated. I would think you should heat it all over...you might be able to achieve the same effect by grounding it on your car battery until it turns a nice cherry color...should be able to straighten it out after that.
 
usually just soak it in a bowl of water and put it 5 mins in the microwave. Happens to me all the time...comes out good as new! :p
 
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